In some role-playing games, alignment is a categorisation of the moral and ethical perspective of the player characters, non-player characters, monsters, and societies in the game. A role-playing game (RPG, often roleplaying game) is a type of game in which the participants assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create stories. ... Morality refers to the concept of human ethics which pertains to matters of good and evil —also referred to as right or wrong, used within three contexts: individual conscience; systems of principles and judgments — sometimes called moral values —shared within a cultural, religious, secular, Humanist, or philosophical community; and codes... Ethics (from the Ancient Greek ethikos, meaning arising from habit), a major branch of philosophy, is the study of value or quality. ... A player character or playable character (PC) is a fictional character in a game who is controlled or controllable by the player. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Human relationships within an ethnically diverse society. ...

Not all role-playing games have such a system, and some narrativist role-players consider such a restriction on their characters' outlook on life to be overly constraining. However, some regard a concept of alignment to be essential to role-playing, since they regard role-playing as an exploration of the themes of good and evil.^[1][2] A Narrativist, in GNS Theory, is a player who makes a decision in a roleplaying game based on what would further a dramatic story, or a game which encourages this style of play. ...

Some games have used other methods to encourage certain behaviours. For instance, superhero games like Marvel Super-Heroes and DC Heroes each have points that players could earn with heroic behaviour or lose with inappropriate actions. Given that these points could be used to improve their characters, or affect dice roll results in their favor, the players have an incentive to have their characters behave heroically and moral to earn them. The Star Wars RPG by West End Games uses the rules governing the use of The Force for the same purpose. Batman and Superman, two of the most recognizable and iconic superheroes. ... The Marvel Super Heroes (MSH) RPG is a role playing game set in the Marvel Universe, first published by TSR under license from Marvel Comics in 1984. ... DC Heroes is an out-of-print superhero role-playing game set in the DC Comics universe, published by Mayfair Games. ... The Star Wars Roleplaying Game is a roleplaying game set in the Star Wars universe, written by and published by West End Games between 1987 and 1999. ... West End Games is a company that makes role playing games. ... The Force is a binding, ubiquitous power that is the object of the Jedi and Sith monastic orders in the Star Wars universe. ...

Dungeons & Dragons

Main article: Alignment (Dungeons & Dragons) In Dungeons & Dragons , alignment is a categorisation of the moral and ethical perspective of the player characters, non-player characters, monsters, and societies in the game. ...

The canonical system derived from Dungeons & Dragons creates a three alignment system of Law, Neutrality and Chaos. In Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, this became a two-dimensional grid, one axis of which measures a "moral" continuum between good and evil, and the other "ethical" between law and chaos. Those characters that fall on one of the extremes are "good" or "evil", "lawful" or "chaotic"; in addition, there is a middle ground of "neutrality" on both axes, describing characters that are indifferent, committed to balance, or conflicted about the struggle between good & evil (or law & chaos). By combining the two axes, any given character has one of nine possible alignments: To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... :For other senses of this word, see dimension (disambiguation). ... GRID can refer to : GRID computing short for gay-related immune deficiency, a former name for AIDS. See also homosexuality and medical science General Repository for Interaction Datasets, a database of biological interactions hosted at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... In religion and ethics, Evil refers to the bad aspects of the behaviour and reasoning of human beings —those which are deliberately void of conscience, and show a wanton desire for destruction. ... The stela of King Hammurabi depicts the god Shamash revealing a code of laws to the king. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... A coordinate axis is one of a set of vectors that defines a coordinate system. ...

In Dungeons & Dragons , alignment is a categorisation of the moral and ethical perspective of the player characters, non-player characters, monsters, and societies in the game. ... In Dungeons & Dragons , alignment is a categorisation of the moral and ethical perspective of the player characters, non-player characters, monsters, and societies in the game. ... In Dungeons & Dragons , alignment is a categorisation of the moral and ethical perspective of the player characters, non-player characters, monsters, and societies in the game. ... In Dungeons & Dragons , alignment is a categorisation of the moral and ethical perspective of the player characters, non-player characters, monsters, and societies in the game. ... In Dungeons & Dragons , alignment is a categorisation of the moral and ethical perspective of the player characters, non-player characters, monsters, and societies in the game. ... In Dungeons & Dragons , alignment is a categorisation of the moral and ethical perspective of the player characters, non-player characters, monsters, and societies in the game. ... In Dungeons & Dragons , alignment is a categorisation of the moral and ethical perspective of the player characters, non-player characters, monsters, and societies in the game. ... In Dungeons & Dragons , alignment is a categorisation of the moral and ethical perspective of the player characters, non-player characters, monsters, and societies in the game. ... In Dungeons & Dragons , alignment is a categorisation of the moral and ethical perspective of the player characters, non-player characters, monsters, and societies in the game. ...

World of Darkness

Characters in White Wolf's old World of Darkness games have "Nature" and "Demeanour" characteristics that describe how the characters really are and how they behave superficially. The Nature and Demeanour are freeform, allowing players to create new types. The logo of White Wolf Publishing, one of White Wolf, Inc. ... The World of Darkness is the name given to two distinct fictional universes developed by White Wolf Game Studio. ...

Additionally, in White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade, vampire and human characters may have a "Humanity" trait ranging from 0 to 10. The higher levels are the compassionate and humane while the lower levels are psychopathic (further enhanced by the predatory nature of the vampire psyche). The average living, non-magic human has a Humanity score of about 7 or 8. Other Paths were created for vampire types. Vampire: The Masquerade (Revised Edition) cover. ...

However, with the recent re-imagining of the World of Darkness setting, this has changed. In the new editions of the White Wolf games (new World of Darkness, Vampire: The Requiem, Mage: The Awakening, etc.), all characters have a morality trait ranked from 0 to 10, though what it is called varies from game to game, and what sorts of behaviour will raise or lower it depend on the character type as well (though in Vampire: The Requiem it is still Humanity and is still affected by the same behaviours). In addition to this, all characters now have a Virtue and a Vice based upon the traditional seven of each, which represents their major (though not only) vice and virtue. This is intended to illustrate that even the very good are never perfect, although characters with a score closer to 10 will be much more capable of avoiding evil behaviour while characters of lower moral tone will begin to care less about and get off more on simply being wicked. This articles content is specific to the fictional setting known as the World of Darkness. ...

Illustration

A vampire with a Humanity of close to 10 respects and admires the gentler aspects of mankind, seeking to rise above himself and bring a more compassionate and life-affirming tone to vampire society. A vampire with a very low Humanity (between 2 and 4) will be unmoved by the deaths of innocents, possibly including those of small children, whereas a vampire with a Humanity of 0 is a frenzied, inhuman monster (a Revenant) who must be killed for the good of the vampire community. Similarly, a mage with a score (called Wisdom) close to 10 avoids using magic whenever it is not necessary, and only indulges in its usage in order to better and enrich others and rarely himself. A mage with a low Wisdom seeks power for its own sake, disregarding the needs and the well-being of others; a mage with a score of 0 is considered an abomination, and may be someone who magically binds others (robbing them of their free will), or a soul-eater.

Additionally, unlike Dungeons & Dragons in which every character is subject to at least a cursory moral classification, not all World of Darkness characters are subject to morality: some beings, such as very old and very powerful Spirits (like the Idigam), or entities from the Abyss (like the Acamoth) are beyond manifest conception and thus are outside any measure of useful definition.

Unlike the majority of other Role Playing Games, the World of Darkness "alignment" system is meant not to reflect philosophical convictions about 'right' and 'wrong', which are left entirely up to the creator of the character, but rather, they represent the generalities of the character's state of mind. Believing in or adhering to a certain set of abstract moralisms is not considered to be as strong a motivating factor as the concrete conditions of what a character's personality may bring them to do. While philosophical moralism may play a strong role in a character's thought, lifestyle, and development, these may be violated with only minor to moderate repercussions, depending on the situation, while striking out against a character's basic temperament carries strong psychological consequences, and the behaviour of comprehensively changing a character's disposition takes a great deal of time and diligence. This system was designed specifically by White Wolf in order to avoid having characters pigeonholed as stereotypical heroes and villains who are often driven by beliefs so strong they seem to be psychic imperatives. It was created with the goal in mind of enforcing the moral and ethical 'grey area' within which the World of Darkness setting as a whole resides, and generating focus around the struggle of each character throughout the Chronicle (WoD Campaign) to syncretise their personality with their beliefs and the situations which test them.

d20 Modern

d20 Modern uses "allegiance", an ordered list of groups and ideals the character is aligned with, ranked in approximate order of increasing priority. Characters' allegiances determine a 'rule of thumb' for their reactions to situations, in that they will generally favor the interests or outlook of their highest allegiance, or their next where the first does not apply, etc. This generally allows for snap-decisions on moral or ethical questions, in keeping with the rapid pace of gameplay. d20 Modern is a roleplaying game designed by Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, and Charles Ryan. ...

DC Heroes

DC Heroes from Mayfair Games (now known as MEGS, Mayfair Exponential Game System) used the characteristic "Motivation" to describe a character's ethical behavior. They were selected from a list divided into "heroic" (upholding the good, responsibility of power, seeking justice, thrill of adventure, and unwanted power) and "villainous" (mercenary, thrill seeker, psychopath, power lust, and nihilist). In the MEGS licensed game Blood of Heroes by Pulsar Games, a set of "anti-heroic" variations on some of the heroic and villainous motivations were presented, allowing characters to exist in moral and ethical gray areas. DC Heroes is an out-of-print superhero role-playing game set in the DC Comics universe, published by Mayfair Games. ... Mayfair Games is a publisher of board and roleplaying games in the United States and United Kingdom. ... The Mayfair Exponential Game System or MEGS is a rules system developed for tabletop role-playing games. ... hi your dead ...

To enforce the motivations, players are awarded or deducted character points, which have various uses, depending their actions. For instance, good characters are awarded points for good and heroic behaviour while evil behaviour can cost them.

GURPS

GURPS uses "mental disadvantages" to model the personality of character ("good" and "evil" personality traits are disadvantages because they limit or impose behaviour). Mental disadvantages include ordinary personality traits ("honest", "curious", "shy", "bad temper"), phobias ("scotophobia", "triskaidekaphobia"), mental illnesses ("delusions", "hallucinations", "manic depression"), and various self- or externally-imposed behaviours ("vow", "code of honor", "addiction"). Characters gain extra points by taking disadvantages, allowing them to buy more advantages and skills. However, only the extremes of behavior are defined as strong disadvantages, while normal predilections and preferences are referred to as "quirks". Also, if a personality trait or physical trait would normally be defined as a "disadvantage" is created for a character in a game of GURPS where it would actually be an advantage, it's termed an advantage instead -- and costs points. The Generic Universal Role-Playing System, commonly known as GURPS is a form of a role-playing game (RPG) designed to adapt to any imaginary gaming environment. ... Nyctophobia (from Greek νυξ - night and phobia, also called scotophobia, from σκότοσ - darkness, lygophobia, from lyge - twilight, or achluophobia) is a pathological fear of the dark. ... Look up triskaidekaphobia, paraskavedekatriaphobia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Palladium

Palladium uses a system where alignments are described in detailed terms with alignments describing how a character acts in a certain situation; whether they will lie, how much force they will use against innocents, how they view the law, and so on. The alignments are organized into three broad categories: Good, Selfish, and Evil. The seven core alignments are Principled (Good), Scrupulous (Good), Unprincipled (Selfish), Anarchist (Selfish), Aberrant (Evil), Miscreant (Evil), and Diabolic (Evil). An eighth alignment, Taoist, was introduced in Mystic China, but has not seen wide use. Palladium is a role-playing game created by Kevin Siembieda and published by Palladium Books in 1983. ...

Each category contains answers to a set of questions on moral behaviors. For example, given the question "Would you keep a wallet full of cash you found?", most selfish or evil alignments would keep it, while most good alignments would seek to return the wallet to its owner. The categories are not organized into a pattern like Dungeons & Dragons. The system specifically does not include any sort of "neutral" alignment on the grounds that a neutral point of view is antithetical to the sort of active role heroes and villains should play in a story.

Star Wars

The alignments of WotC Star Wars RPG are limited to Light Side and Dark Side, though there are variations within these. The Star Wars Roleplaying Game is a d20 System-based role-playing game set in the Star Wars universe. ...

In the older West End Games game, behavior is controlled with Force points which indicate one use of it per point. When using The Force for evil deeds will give the character a Dark Side point which can accumulate and put the character at risk of being turned to the Dark Side and player loses control of it. By contrast, self serving deeds with the force simply permanently costs the player the point while heroic deeds allow the player to regain the point. In addition, using the Force for a heroic deed at a dramatically appropriate moment, such as Luke Skywalker firing his proton torpedoes in the Death Star's exhaust port in the Battle of Yavin, will allow the player to earn an extra force point. West End Games is a company that makes role playing games. ... Luke Skywalker (born 19 BBY) is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe, portrayed by Mark Hamill. ... The Death Star was an enormous military battle station in the fictional Star Wars universe. ... Combatants Galactic Empire Rebel Alliance Commanders Grand Moff Tarkin † Darth Vader Admiral Motti † General Tagge General Dodonna General Willard Garven Dreis (Red Leader)† John Vander (Gold Leader)† Strength TIE Fighters Darth Vaders TIE Advanced Death Star heavy, medium and light laser batteries Turbolaser batteries 30 Alliance starfighters, consisting of...

Unknown Armies

Characters in Unknown Armies have "passions," specific stimuli that bring out certain behavior and reflect the character's deepest personality traits. Every character has one "fear passion" that gives the character a bonus chance to escape a specific kind of frightening stimulus, one "rage passion" that helps the character lash out against a particular frustrating stimulus, and one "noble passion" that provides a bonus to selfless behavior for the sake of some greater cause. Passions are invented freeform during character creation, but each fear passion is tied to one of the five types of psychological stress in UA: Violence, Helplessness, Isolation, Self, or the Unnatural. Unknown Armies (abbreviated UA) is an occult-themed RPG by John Tynes and Greg Stolze and published by Atlas Games. ...

References

1. ^ Cook, Monte (October 2002). Book of Vile Darkness (Hardcover), Wizards of the coast.
2. ^ Hickman, Tracy, Laura Curtis. StoryQuest Seminar Workbooks.

• d20 System Reference Document (used with permission).
• Gary Gygax Q&A, Part IX. EN World Forums. Retrieved on January 27, 2006.